After a lifetime of feeding yourself, you get into a rhythm, fueled less by hunger and more by expectation and habit. You eat that last slice of pizza or scoop up another plate at the breakfast buffet not because you’re still hungry – the first half of your meal took care of that. You do it because, well, that’s what you do.

An interesting study published in The New England Journal of Medicine compared four diet strategies, from low-fat to low-carbohydrate to everything in between, and found that weight loss didn’t differ significantly among the different approaches. Weight-loss success correlated simply with caloric intake. Whereas many studies have debated the relative merits of different strategies, this report highlights the importance of portion control. It all comes down to calories.

We know already that large shifts in the way you live your dietary life are difficult to sustain – and aren’t very much fun. As long as you can make small dents in the number of calories you consume each day, you will lose weight over time. Concentrate on eating less.

Approach each meal with a plan for the item or quantity you’ll have less of, and soon you’ll have at least one less pound to show for it. As you keep your food diary, indicate which items you could have one less of. You will be amazed at how many calories you will cut with a bit more mindfulness.